Bear
Essentials

PHOTOS BY BILL GEMMELL

After a slow start, the Berkley High School boys
soccer team is enjoying a fast finish.

STEVE STEIN STAFF WRITER

113 erkley High School
boys soccer coach Joel
Epstein isn't a candi-
date for the Nobel
Peace Prize, but per-
haps he should be
given some consider-
ation.
After all, he's demonstrated
this fall that it is possible to get
a group of teen-agers from sev-
eral different cultures to work to-
gether toward a common goal.
The players on Epstein's squad
come from seven counties — the
United States, Israel, the former
Soviet Union, Afghanistan, Iraq,
Brazil and Denmark — but Ep-
stein has molded them into the
most successful Berkley boys soc-
cer team since the program was
launched in 1988.
After losing their first four
games this season while suffer-
ing from injuries and a lack of
continuity, the Bears reeled off
12 straight victories before they
faced Lake Orion earlier this
week. During those dozen wins,

Berkley outscored opponents 68-
9.
At 7 p.m. Monday, Berkley will
open Class A state tournament
play by hosting Royal Oak Kim-
ball, a team which belted the
Bears 9-3 during Berkley's early
tailspin.
Among the Bears' major ac-
complishments this fall are a 2-1
victory over Royal Oak Dondero,
which snapped the Oaks' season-
long 11-game winning streak,
and the first "mercy rule" win in
Berkley team history, a 10-0 shel-
lacking of Southfield-Lathrup.
Berkley has been on the other
end of the "mercy rule" many
times.
"Have the boys accepted each
other? Absolutely. They like each
other, and they love the game,"
Epstein said.
'The kids are bright, fairly qui-
et, and stubborn to varying de-
grees. Because of that, what I've
tried to do is channel their will
rather than break their spirit.
'The boys have come to realize

during the season that the only
way they are going to be suc-
cessful is to play as a cohesive
unit. They don't have time to
check passports before they pass
the ball.
"Let's face it. It doesn't matter
where you come from ... what you
must do to win in soccer is to put
the ball into the net and that's
what we've done since our early
losing streak."
Before this season, Berkley's
most successful year was 1990,
when it went 10-8-1. The Bears
were 8-10-1 and 7-7-2 in Epstein's
first two seasons at the helm.
Besides turning his team into
a big winner this fall, Epstein be-
lieves he has accomplished an-
other, just-as-important goal.
"I'm emphasized to the boys
that I want them to act like gen-
tlemen, and they've done that,"
Epstein said. "I think we've
gained a reputation as a team
which comes to the field, does its
job, packs its bags and goes
home."

Above left: Berkley coach Joel
Epstein talks with his team at
halftime of a 2-0 victory over
Royal Oak Shrine.

Above: Max Sulla (far right)
follows the bouncing ball.

Right An injured Zak Kepes
talks with Adam Gottlieb.

Epstein is Jewish, and so
are eight players on his ros-
ter. Junior Aleks Yasno-
gordinsky and sophomore
Max Sulla come from the
former Soviet Union and
junior Segev Phillips is
from Israel.
Rounding out the list are
American-born juniors Zak
Kepes, Scott Howard and
Hussein of Afghanistan, a junior,
Marc Selik, sophomore Craig have become close friends. Hus-
Somers and freshman Adam Got- sein lived in Afghanistan when
tlieb.
the Russians invaded his coun-
Epstein says Yasnogordinsky, try.
who lived near the Arctic Circle
Sulla has scored four goals this
in his former homeland, and
Berkley teammate Reza Gulam BEAR ESSENTIALS page 93